- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/18/india.pakistan.ap/index.html
NEW DELHI, India (AP) -- India on Tuesday accused Pakistani soldiers of firing mortar shells across the Line of Control in Kashmir in violation of a cease-fire aimed at ending six decades of enmity between the South Asian nuclear-armed rivals.
A senior army official said there were no casualties on the Indian side, and Indian troops had not retaliated.
"It certainly is a violation of the cease-fire. This is the first time this has happened. We have exercised full restraint," Maj. Gen. Deepak Summanwar told the private NDTV news channel. "Seven to eight rounds of mortars were fired. All our patrols ... have been alerted."
In Islamabad, Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said he was not immediately aware of the incident.
The reports of firing came hours after another setback to relations as the two nations pursue peace. Islamabad accused New Delhi of deliberately scuttling talks on a disputed dam that India is building on its side of Kashmir, and appealed to the World Bank to help resolve the issue.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Masood Khan said the dispute will cast a "bad light" on the peace dialogue.
For decades, India and Pakistan regularly fired at each other across the cease-fire line, killing soldiers and civilians. However, they agreed to a cease-fire in November 2003.
The peace that resulted has been the longest period of calm on the border since 1989, when a violent Islamic insurgency began in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
Indian military officials in Kashmir said Tuesday's firing may have been carried out to provide cover to a batch of Islamic militants crossing into the Indian side of Kashmir from the Pakistan-controlled part of the Himalayan region.
Rebels based in Pakistan routinely cross over to India to wage attacks as part of their campaign to carve out a separate homeland or merge the Indian-controlled area into Pakistan. Five such rebels were killed Monday night in the mountainous Achhar sector, said B.D. Sharma, inspector general of the Border Security Force.
India accuses Pakistan of allowing militants to train in camps on its territory and supporting attacks. Pakistan denies the allegations.
Nearly 66,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict.
Military officials in Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, said the firing was just north of Punch town, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Jammu at the army's Durga Post.
India and Pakistan are currently holding regular talks on a series of disputes that have haunted their relations since 1947, when British colonialists left the subcontinent and the new Islamic nation of Pakistan was carved out of the Indian mainland.
They have since fought three wars, two of them over their rival claims over Kashmir.
In January 2004, then-Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf set off a wide-ranging peace process aimed at resolving the Kashmir dispute, that has been pursued by India's new Congress party-led government.